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The detection of Earth-like exoplanets in the habitable zone of their stars, and their spectroscopic characterization in a search for biosignatures, requires starlight suppression that exceeds the current best ground-based performance by…
Exoplanet imaging using the solar gravitational lens is an enticing prospect. The fundamental physical properties of the lens, including its angular resolution and light amplification, promise exceptional capabilities. These expectations,…
Our simulation-based experiments are aimed to demonstrate a use case on the feasibility of fulfillment of global energy demand by primarily relying on solar energy through the integration of a longitudinally-distributed grid. These…
One of the great quests of astronomy is to obtain the spectrum of a terrestrial planet orbiting within the habitable zone of its star, and the dominant challenge in doing so is to isolate the light of the planet from that of the star.…
To collect additional solar energy during the hours of darkness and to overcome the limited Terrestrial solar power due to the diurnal day night cycle, the concept of a Geostationary Tethered Collecting Solar Power Satellite System has been…
Nano-scaled metallic or dielectric structures may provide various ways to trap light into thin-film solar cells for improving the conversion efficiency. In most schemes, the textured active layers are involved into light trapping structures…
Observations of the Sun and of Sun-like stars provide access to different aspects of stellar magnetic activity that, when combined, help us piece together a more comprehensive picture than can be achieved from only the solar or the stellar…
The detection of massive planets orbiting nearby stars has become almost routine, but current techniques are as yet unable to detect terrestrial planets with masses comparable to the Earth's. Future space-based observatories to detect…
Sensitive measurements of the linearly polarized spectra of stars can be used to deduce geometric properties of their otherwise unresolved circumstellar environments. This paper describes some of the evidence for optical pumping and…
A novel electronic film solar energy concentrator with embedded micro-mirrors that track the sun is described. The potential viability of this new concept is presented. Due to miniaturization, the amount of material needed for the optical…
Microlensing is the most promising method to study the statistical frequency of extra-solar planets orbiting typical (random) stars in the Milky Way, even those several kiloparsecs from Earth. The lensing zone corresponds to orbital…
Optoionics, a promising new field that aims at controlling ion dynamics using light, links photovoltaic power generation with electrochemical charge storage. This has the potential to drive and accelerate the energy revolution by utilizing…
Negative ions have been detected in abundance in recent years by spacecraft across the solar system. These detections were, however, made by instruments not designed for this purpose and, as such, significant uncertainties remain regarding…
The techniques of laser cooling combined with atom interferometry make possible the realization of very sensitive and accurate inertial sensors like gyroscopes or accelerometers. Besides earth-based developments, the use of these techniques…
With the new discoveries enabled thanks to the recent space missions, stellar physics is going through a revolution. However, these discoveries opened the door to many new questions that require more observations. The European Space…
Young solar-like stars are efficient generators of magnetic activity, superflares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and stellar energetic particles. These phenomena drive the early evolution of stars and shape the habitability of exoplanets.…
Direct imaging of extra-solar planets is now a reality, especially with the deployment and commissioning of the first generation of specialized ground-based instruments such as the Gemini Planet Imager and SPHERE. These systems will allow…
We propose a search for sources of directed energy systems such as those now becoming technologically feasible on Earth. Recent advances in our own abilities allow us to foresee our own capability that will radically change our ability to…
New facilities and technologies have advanced our understanding of massive stars significantly over the past 30 years. Here I introduce a new large survey of massive stars using VLT-FLAMES, noting the target fields and observed binary…
The discovery of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun has accelerated over the past decade, and this trend will continue as new space- and ground-based observatories employ next-generation instrumentation to search the skies for…